teson1 - Golden Age - Bee Gee Model Z Sportster

Beirut OLBA - Baghdad ORBS

Wow, that was an entirely different story than the last leg. :isadizzy:

Now, I have to say that I have (had?) this plan to get to Melbourne by map, compass and watch only. And this worked out pretty smooth... till now.

LOL. I may have to revise my plan. :d

I was aware that the leg Beirut - Baghdad would not be easy, with nothing but desert and little reliable landmarks, but I made a complete cock-up out of it!

Got interesting right after take-off. The low clouds that were just a nuisance on the landing of last leg, were quite a different challenge getting over the lebanon mountains. Man, these go up and up... Visibility was barely good enough to avoid a spectacular end to the flight, but lost track of where I was, wiggling through valleys and ridges. Looks like a nice region though.
By chance crossed Rayak airport OLRA on the east side, which gave a fix to get back on track. There the clouds also parted.

I had planned to follow roads through the desert to Baghdad, which looked quite feasible and pretty evident on the map. However, on the terrain there were many more roads, crisscrossing, looking alike, so it was kind of tough to follow.
What are people _doing_ here? Bleak, featureless, flat plains, furthermore with snowpatches lying. Anybody read Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab about an SAS patrol gone awry? These people were going down with hypothermia right down there. I swear I could feel the icy wind howling across the plains.

Took a wrong turn at some point, but luckily that lead to OS0L, so another position fix to get back onto the right road and track.
However, position became so doubtful some time later again that I decided to switch to

Plan B: head NE till hitting the Euphrates river. Then just follow it south till Falujah, and on to Baghdad.

Now, how much easier can it get?! That Euphrates is a big river, no? Would have to be a fool to miss it, no?

Ok, so here as I'm cruising along, shortly before estimated arrival at the Euphrates, dense fog comes up, visibility down to maybe 2-3 nm, but no problem. Just have to hug the ground to keep the shiny side up.
Alright, after 53 min, as planned, there's BIG water visible on the left, pat on the back. Cross a tributary, and on to the river... But no river there?? Go on and on... Mummy! Where am I? Did I get too far south? Where's the river? Is the river correctly represented in FS? Did I pass, is it still ahead? Only fog around. Mummy!! :crybaby:
Fearful glances at the fuel level, luckily I've throttled back and leaned mixture during the flight and have plenty to spare. Still 1/4 full.

Some time later I hit a big streak of water - is that the big (salt) lake N of Baghdad, well beyond the Euphrates? Follow the shore south, still in the fog. Phew, the shore has the right shape. Finally know where I am. From there it's easy to get to Falujah on the Euphrates by DR, where the fog lifts, and on to ORBS.

Get off the plane and kiss the ground. :engel016:

Btw - of course the "tributary" I crossed actually was the Euphrates... I just hit it at the Haditha dam, so the lake behind looked as big as I expected the Euphrates to be, not small like this tributary... Next time have a better look at the map...

http://www.fsrtwrace.com/track/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=MetzEMptaoTO3oGAJiz7Dr1P4
 
Some pics.
1. Into the Lebanon mountains
2. Backside
3. That's the road to follow ... I think ...
4. Euphrates on the left with "tributary"
5. Where am I???

(Why does visibility always look so much better on the pics, later, than at 200 kts??? :icon_lol:)
 
Down in Jask.
But for the last 15 minutes I'd have said there'd never been an easier flight... almost CAVOK, nice flight through the mountains of Iran.
But just when crossing the strait of Hormuz, dense fog rolled in.
Adrenaline went up a few notches.
Luckily the airport is situated at a characteristic spot, lined up with the shore line. Found it skirting the wave crests and landed with 1 nm visibility
Phew.

Strange, conditions got bad just when my internet connection broke down??? stopping the online logging at
http://www.fsrtwrace.com/track/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=2B8PSGNOpHb7nqmx3Km427iQoOw
1,2. Mountains of Irak
3. Musadam Island in the strait of Hormuz
4. Turning final...
5. First glimpse of RW
 
Hello India!
Karachi OPKG - Jodhpur VIJO by train. :icon_lol:
This will be a fun flight to get to Vijo with compass and watch. From a navigation challenge point of view the most challenging of the trip I think. VIJO in the middle of nowhere will be a challenge to find. And looks like some haze out there.
I've selected a nice IFR (railroads!) route, let's see where I get...
 
Yeeeeehaw! :jump:

Down in Jodhpur VIJO.
Followed the Karachi - Hyderabad - Jodhpur railway all the way.

Amazing, every bend and twist coincided with the map! (Guess they have similar sources, but still... it's marvellous what this sim allows us to do in such far away places... :applause: Towns were present and at the right place, even small hills in the plains were there and allowed precise determination of position.

Most difficult was actually to distinguish the Railroad within the FS scrub textures. Happy to have TrackIR!
But apart from that, a piece of cake :d

To be honest, however, I'm quite happy the VIJO METAR 08006 2500 HZ didn't materialize... That would have been some notches more stressful, and I'd probably be stranded somewhere in a rice paddy. Had true CAVOK instead. :naturesm:

http://www.fsrtwrace.com/track/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=8MsclL0EIMoUwVmv3QTxO9XCDxA
 
OMG! I'm alive! :engel016:
What flight!

Down in VIAL.

On paper, this was an easy one.
Head slightly north of VIAL till hitting the Ganges, then turn right and follow the river to the airport. Right?
Rivers for navigation... I should have remembered the Euphrates fiasco... :icon_lol:

It was an epic...

5:32 (UTC) The Indian plain is shrouded in dense fog (0300 FG at VIJO), happy I don't have to follow railroads for 2 1/2 hours... Takeoff with 1000 ft visibility, climb to cruise level at 10000 ft, heading 90°.
7:09 Start descent to get into the dense fog close to the ground well before crossing the Ganges. I have to see that river! NOE flying at 500-1000 ft to see anything. Visibility still max 2000 ft.
7:28 Crossing the Yamuna river, a few minutes later than planned, but maybe there was a headwind...
7:38 Ok, Ganges, where are you? Head swivels left and right to see anything in the fog.
7:42 ...
7:47 ...
7:52 ... Time Ganges should have been there passed by +10%. Must have missed it. Turn around, and head back. Dang, have to watch that fuel. Only 1/4 left. Better throttle back.
8:17 There's the river again. Ooops, it was the Ganges, not the Yamuna... But where along its course am I on it? Only fog around.
8:29 Finally find where I am, plotting the bends of the river on a sheet of paper. Only 5% fuel left...
8:33 The fog luckily lifts, can make straight for the airport. 3% fuel left. Getting really nervous. Am meanwhile flying at 110 kts, best fuel economy, to stretch as far as possible.
8:54 Engine dies upon touchdown... Can't believe I made it. Engineers later find 1.8 gal left in the tank.

Starts a hysterical giggle, and stops shaking only after a few minutes.
Woah......

Flight distance: 641 nm
Point-to-point distance: 471 nm

http://www.fsrtwrace.com/track/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=Oe0C0ZxBx1Mul6X0i0rwWCFseNw
 
No problem, you had it all the way...

Oh by the way, who is the beneficiary of your insurance policy?

Great story. :cool:
 
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